Hopeless Romantic Fool
by Lost Demon102
Summary: He was lost. So was she. Both slowly bring themselves to the other's heart, though they do not realize. But will they come to their senses? Or will each stay as a hopeless romantic fool? NaruTema
1. Where It All Begins

A/N: This is about a pairing, a crack pairing: Naruto and Temari! This is dedicated to LeweL since he was the one who gave me the idea. This is the first chapter, "Where It All Begins" I hope you all will like it. I'll probably suck at this. (sobs)

O-O-O

Two men stood in front of the gates as they opened. These two shinobis have been gone for a long time. They've been gone for two years and a half, training elsewhere. Now, they're finally back home. Once the gates fully opened, the very much older man looked down at the younger one. The younger one looked back at him and nodded. They both walked passed the gates and into the village known as Konoha. They came face to face with a pink haired kunoichi, Shizune and the fifth Hokage.

"Welcome back, Jiraiya." Tsunade said and looked down at the younger man, "You've grown, Naruto."  
Naruto nodded in response.  
"And you're no longer a blabber mouth." Tsunade added. Shizune nodded in agreement.  
"Things have changed, Tsunade-baachan." Naruto agreed and looked at his pink-haired teammate, "It's nice to see you, too, Sakura-chan."  
Sakura smiled and walked over to Naruto. She placed her arms over his shoulders. "I've missed you."  
"So have I." Naruto replied, smiling.

Jiraiya smiled at the sight of the two 15-year-olds. Putting it aside, he looked at Tsunade. "Any word of Orochimaru?"  
Shizune sighed. "Unfortunately we haven't gathered much information."  
Naruto and Sakura broke apart. Naruto looked at Tsunade. "Tsunade-baachan, I need to take the chuunin exams. I have not received the label of a chuunin yet, unlike the others. Sakura told me. Hyuuga Neji is even a jounin now. I am the only one among my comrades that remains a genin."  
"You can't go anywhere yet, Naruto. You have just returned, and I assume that you want to rest, isn't that right? I'm sorry to say that I have missions for you to accomplish."  
Naruto stared at the Hokage for a moment in silence then closed his eyes and reopened them after a few seconds. "What do you want me to do, Tsunade-baachan?"  
As Tsunade explained things to Naruto, Sakura only stared at her blonde friend. "He's so much serious now. He didn't complain to Tsunade-sama when she said he couldn't take the chuunin exams. Naruto, you've really changed." she thought as she simply stood beside Naruto.

"Naruto, you are to go to Sunagakure in two days. It seems that the Kazekage wants to talk to you."  
"The Kazekage? Wasn't the Kazekage killed during the chuunin exams? Orochimaru murdered him and pretended to be him, isn't that correct? Who is the new Kazekage?"  
"Why, the former Kazekage's own son, of course, Sabaku no Gaara."  
"Gaara? Oh. I see. That is great news."  
Sakura only found herself to stare at Naruto longer when he said that. She knew Naruto was shocked once he heard that Gaara has become Kazekage.  
"Naruto, it seems that you are to see the Kazekage, alone. He needed to talk to you about something."  
"Why not just send me a note?"  
"He said the matter was personal."  
"Understood."

Naruto turned forty-five degrees and was ready to walk home to get a good rest. He became stiff once he felt a hand hold his. He looked over his shoulder to see Sakura smiling.  
"Naruto, it's been a very long time since we had a talk. Why don't we go for a walk?"  
Naruto smiled. "There is no problem with that idea, Sakura-chan."  
With that, the two disappeared and, in an instant, reappeared, jumping on the roofs of Konoha's houses and buildings.  
Jiraiya, Tsunade and Shizune watched until they were out of sight. Jiraiya smiled. "So the frog loves the slug."

O-O-O

Naruto and Sakura stopped on one roof. It didn't matter which roof it was. Naruto stretched out his arms. "I've missed this place. It hasn't changed one bit!" Sakura smiled. Naruto turned to look at her and smiled back. The two of them sat on the roof in silence.

Naruto looked at Sakura and smiled slightly. Sakura saw this and blushed but smiled, too. "What are you smiling at?"  
Naruto shook his head. "What else? I'm smiling at you."  
Sakura only smiled.  
"Sakura-chan, do you still love him?"  
Sakura blinked and frowned. "What are you talking about, Naruto-kun?"

"Sasuke."

Sakura looked down. "Hai, Naruto. I still love him. He might've betrayed us, but I still love him. Please understand, Naruto-kun." Sakura looked up and was relieved when she saw Naruto smiling.

"It's okay, Sakura-chan. I'm happy only if you are. I promise to bring Sasuke back for you. Even if I die, I'll keep my word. I never go back on my word..."

Sakura can only stay silent and let her eyes water. Naruto sighed and lay on the roof that they sat on with his arms behind his head.

"That's one down... I wonder if _she_ still likes me..."

O-O-O

"Neji? Where's Hinata? Isn't she here?"

The sunset was wonderful. If only the moments that our hero was experiencing that day were the same. Things were only starting to get worse for Naruto. First, Sakura still loved Sasuke. Naruto decided to leave it aside. He wouldn't want to steal the girl's heart. He planned not to ruin Sakura's relationship with Sasuke. So after he walked Sakura back to her apartment, he felt like going to see if Hinata still liked him. He did.

"You're looking for my cousin, Uzumaki? She isn't here, I'm sorry to say, but she and Kiba moved into an empty apartment a year ago. Before that, they started hanging out. They started to like each other and get really close. Now, they're together. I'm sorry."  
"It's okay, Neji. There are no worries. I just wanted stopped by, anyway."

Neji nodded as Naruto did. Neji closed the door as Naruto started to walk away. Naruto sighed. "Well, that goes back to zero, Naruto. You are completely on your own." he thought to himself. Reaching his own apartment, he opened the door, quietly, and walked in. Gently closing the door, Naruto sighed another time and went straight to his bedroom. He threw his door keys which landed on his bed. He took off his jacket, threw it aside which also landed on the bed. He did the same with his shirt and jeans. Now only in his green boxers, he removed his sandals from his feet and walked into his bathroom.

He removed his forehead protector and placed it by the sink and stared at his own reflection in the bathroom's mirror. "You fell all the way back down to zero, Naruto, all the way back down to zero." he said as if he were taking to his reflection.

Naruto walked to his bath tub and turned on the faucet. He placed his hand under the faucet to check the temperature of the water which he was satisfied with. He pulled his boxers down and removed them from his legs. He threw his boxers aside, not minding where it landed. Placing one foot in the tub, he sighed in pleasure, feeling no more satisfied with the water's temperature. He placed his whole body into the tub and relaxed as the tub filled itself with the warm water.

"If only I'll ever feel as good as I do now, in this tub. Love's there when I can have it. Once I try to grab it, it disappears." Naruto sighed but simply relaxed in the tub and closed his eyes.

O-O-O

Naruto walked around the village with nothing else to do.

"What to do today? I'm already done packing all that I need for my way to Sunagakure and my stay there. I'm leaving tomorrow, though."

Naruto stopped in his tracks to think of what to do for this one, whole day. That was when someone bumped into him. Naruto looked down to see a blonde girl with her hair tied in a bun. The girl wore a button-up top and skirt similar to Sakura's. Naruto blinked. "Ino?"  
The girl looked up to reveal the face of Yamanaka Ino. "Oh! Naruto! You're back!" Ino said in surprise as she stepped back for she accidentally bumped Naruto, as said.  
"Wow. Ino, you've changed. You changed your outfit and you grew your hair back."  
"You've changed yourself, Naruto. Are you smarter now?" Ino teased as she knocked on Naruto's forehead with her fist.  
"Yeah. I'm not the Naruto you used to know, Ino."  
"Even a change in personality. That's amazing... Well, I'll see you around! Oh! I almost forgot! Have you seen Shikamaru? He's on his day off from teaching at the academy, and I can't seem to find him anywhere."  
"Shikamaru teaches there now? No. I'm sorry. I haven't seen him. I only got here yesterday. Why?"  
"We were going to go on a date. Hey, you don't have a girl, do you?"  
Naruto shook his head.  
"Well, thanks anyway." With that, Ino ran passed Naruto calling, Shikamaru.

Naruto shook his head for the second time and continued to walk. "Ino's with Shikamaru? What about Temari? What happened? I should probably te-"

"Oof!"  
"Ow! Ah! I'm sorry!"

And yet again, a person had bumped into Naruto. Looking down, Naruto saw that it was another female of his age. The girl, unlike before, had long hair. She still wore a jacket though it was a different one.

The girl looked up at him. "Na- Naruto-kun! You're back!"  
Naruto could only want to stay silent but greeted the girl anyway, "It's nice to see you, too, Hinata-san." Once he finished his sentence he immediately started walking again.  
Sensing the cold tone from Naruto's voice, Hinata turned but did not follow Naruto.

Naruto walked with an angry expression visible on his face. He marched away, not wanting to speak with anybody. The day could've been fine if he didn't bump into Hinata. Naruto passed a boy who now wore normal ninja clothing instead of the thick fur coat. The boy turned out to be Inuzuka Kiba. Naruto was too angry that he ignored Kiba once he called out to him.

"No one loved me then, no one loves me now, no one will, ever..."

O-O-O

A/N: There isn't anything between Naruto and Temarei yet... I know that, but there will be on the later chapters. I think this will have a lot of chapters. I still have to bring Temari and Naruto's relationship to a whole new level. They're only friends and I have to fix that...

And thanks to a site, I got a lot of information on the characters after the time skip.

And please tell me if you think I should do the future chapters in either Naruto's POV, Temari's or none of those... Reviews are appreciated, but I guess I sucked here. (frown)


	2. To Sunagakure!

A/N: Thanks to watching the third and latest Mission Impossible movie, I got so inspired. I want to write this fic so badly because of the ideas that are flowing in my head. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

O-O-O

It was still dark. The sun had barely come up. In around 4 AM in the morning, a 15-year-old blonde shinobi grabbed his backpack and jumped out his window, holding his backpack which was over his shoulder. He thought the fifth Hokage would know he left early. Uzumaki Naruto would be passing through deserts, running on all the sand. He wanted to leave early and to avoid getting a heat stroke.

Running through the forests outside of Konoha, Naruto didn't stop to waste time. He had to see the Kazekage. He did not bother to ask what this was about. He wouldn't want to. He just wanted to end things and get some horrible and disastrous thoughts out of his mind.

It took a while... It took hours of running nonstop to reach the other end of the forest but it was another thing Naruto wouldn't care about. Reaching the end of the forests and the start of deserts, though, Naruto stopped and quickly got a bottle of water from his bag and held it, placing his backpack back on his shoulders. He continued to run. It was only around 10 AM in the morning, Naruto thought, and the burning sun was already up high. Naruto always hated the desert. He preferred places with just the right temperature: not too hot and not too cold. Not wanting any more distractions, Naruto only ran nonstop yet again.

Nobody could stand the heat. Naruto already ran out of two bottles of water and he was barely half way across running above all the sand. And every few minutes later, the wind blowing against Naruto would get stronger, little by little. Naruto still didn't stop at this. He needed to go to Sunagakure as promised. Nothing would stop him from keeping his word. Even if it wasn't at all so important to him, the mission, keeping his word was always his way of doing things. No, nothing should change his mind. Nothing should go wrong.

Maybe that was just as Naruto thought it ought to be.

The blonde covered his face with his arms for the wind had still grown stronger, blowing more and more sand. Naruto looked up a bit to see a huge whirl of sand not so far away.

"Fuck that!"

Naruto turned and ran for the whirl of sand moved toward his direction, like all the other particles of desert sand. Cursing out loud, Naruto did his best to run but was soon caught by the whirl of sand that we call a tornado.

"Shit!"

It was strange to be carried by a tornado. To make things worse, Naruto was in the desert! Too much sand covered his whole body. It was like the blonde couldn't breathe. He just kept on cursing out loud but not loud enough to be heard. The wind was just too strong and too loud like thunder. It was like being in a washing machine. Naruto felt like he was being thrown from one side to the other in a circular motion. Uneven with the speed of the tornado, Naruto couldn't get out. He stayed high up in the air, trying to hold on and stay conscious. But being just a simple human, Naruto lost his conscious anyway...

It was only a matter of time when a boy opened his eyes a little. He was still in the desert. The tornado had stopped. The only thing is that Naruto didn't know how long he had been unconscious. But when he opened his eyes, he saw a shadow blocking the sunlight. He figured it was someone from the Hidden Village of Sand. Being too tired, Naruto dropped his head back on the ground and lay unconscious one last time.

O-O-O

"Mm. Ugh. Hm."  
"He's waking up."  
"Hmph."

Leaf ninja Uzumaki Naruto jerked his eyes open to find himself on a bed. He looked around to see that the place was neat. The room had stone walls and carved wooden furniture yet very detailed. However it was, Naruto was unfamiliar with it. He sat up on the bed that he laid on and looked down to see his backpack. Someone had obviously found him in the middle of the desert and brought him to his or her home. Naruto looked at the front of the bed and saw three people who turned out to be the three well known Sand siblings.

Naruto quickly got off the bed and bowed. "Gaara, or rather... Kazekage-sama, I'm sorry to have caused you trouble. I was foolish and careless."  
"Save your sorries. It was a good thing we arrived in time to stop the tornado. Be thankful. And... think about yourself for once, Uzumaki." Gaara, as the Kazekage, said and left with no other word said.  
Naruto looked up in time to see Gaara leave the room. He looked at the other two Sand siblings, Kankurou and Temari.

Kankurou had put aside the bat man look yet he had more facial paintings than from almost three years ago. Temari sported a new outfit as well, yet she still had the same hairstyle. It seemed that many have changed, Naruto thought.

Kankurou, with nothing to say nor do, left the room. Temari did the same. Though before leaving the room, Temari informed Naruto that Gaara wanted to see him later. Naruto should want to get another good rest first, Temari added. With that, the green-eyed blonde closed the door after exiting the room. Naruto hesitated, thinking he should tell Temari about Shikamaru at first, and thought about how Temari might react. Naruto shook his head. "I'll tell Temari some other time. If I tell her now, it would be too sudden..." With the thought, Naruto lay on the bed and rested once again.

After an hour of taking a nap, Naruto walked down a hallway of the building where he was currently in. Reaching outside his destination, Naruto looked at the pictures that were on the wall, just outside the room where he would enter in a few minutes. Naruto observed everything about the four pictures, the pictures of the previous Kazekages. He looked to the far right to see the fifth picture and the picture of the current Kazekage, the youngest Kazekage, with the name of the man imprinted on the bottom of the photo.

"Sabaku no Gaara"

It surprised Naruto that Gaara, one of his comrades, had become Kazekage, leader of his own village. Naruto had wanted to be Hokage. Gaara had the title of a Kazekage long before Naruto would ever be Hokage. This made Naruto frown.

"Uzumaki."

Naruto closed his eyes and walked into the now open door of the Kazekage's office. Naruto reopened his eyes as Gaara closed the door. The room was as neat as the room Naruto found himself in. The place also had hard stone walls. The pictures of the Kazekages, either previous or current, were also in the room. Two huge plants in pots stood, one on each corner in the room's side of where the door was. Whatever it looked like, it was fit for a Kazekage. Naruto walked to a desk which was placed in the center of the room. On one side of the desk sat Gaara. Naruto sat on the other.

"Tsunade-baachan said you wanted to see me, personally."

Gaara closed his eyes and began to speak. "Last week, two unknown people broke in here to take one of Suna's secret scrolls. Before any of the two could find it, I had entered the room when I heard noises. They were caught, eventually. And when we asked questions, they did not answer. They had the forehead protectors of Hidden Rock Village. I contacted the Tsuchikage. He told me that he did not know about these two, but he told me two villagers were murdered a few days ago, before I contacted him.

"The two that we caught probably killed the two villagers and took their forehead protectors. We still have no idea where these two are from. I called you to help protect the scrolls. Do not ask why I have asked only you to come. I will explain. I know that the Uchiha has left your village. I also seem to have figured out, like anyone else, that you care for the welfare of the Sakura girl. And besides, you are the one that has most of my trust.

"Remember the time during the chuunin exams? You have thought me something great. I thank you, Uzumaki... Our guards will look out for more foreign ninjas. You only have to deal with those that manage to get into the room of our scrolls. In the mean time, feel free to roam around the village. Don't ask any more."

Naruto looked up and nodded, following what he was told. The red head waved his hand in a dismissing way. Naruto understood. He got off the chair he sat on and walked to the door. He opened the door, left the room and closed the door after.

Naruto walked around, observing everything in Suna that surrounded him. The village was peaceful. Gaara seemed to be doing well as a Kazekage. Naruto sighed. He wondered what the others were doing. He had no friends here. Then again, he didn't even feel like talking to anyone who was back at Konoha. But what can he do while there was nothing to do? Naruto went through the problem thinking of what to do, when there was absolutely nothing to do, again.

"He- Hey! Give me back my books!"

Naruto looked to the direction to where he heard the shout. It was right behind him. He saw a brown-haired girl who was about his age. She wore a simple, white shirt and black shorts. Her hair was messy but it was tied in a bun anyway. Around her were three other guys holding around one or two books each.

Naruto approached the group and got one book from one of the guys. "What are you doing?"  
The guys stayed silent but one then spoke. "What are _you_ doing? This isn't any of you're business!"  
"I can make it my business."  
The boy who spoke shook his head. "Let's get out of here." With that, the two other teens dropped the books there were holding and ran.

Naruto picked up the four books and handed them over to the girl. "You're a book worm."  
"Well, I get interested easily..."  
"I see. So, uhm, what's your name? And why were those guys bugging you? You seem too pretty to be bullied."  
The girl chuckled. "They're just mad. Do you know that guy who got up against you? I rejected him a few years back. I'm taken. Oh. I'm Shakiru. What's your name?"  
"the name's Uzumaki Naruto. I'm fifteen years old and single."  
Shakiru giggled a little bit more and waved good bye. "I'll see you around, Naruto."  
Naruto nodded.

"Damn. She's taken. Well, it's no wonder. Those brown eyes are beautiful." Naruto murmured once Shakiru was out of sight. Naruto walked to one building and sat on a bench outside it. He watched as people passed by, all having their own lives to go on with.

"You won't get girls just sitting around, kid."

Naruto looked to his side to see no other than a blonde like himself, yet a few years older.

"Well, it's not like I _want_ to get a girl. I don't know if I'll even get one."  
Temari sighed. "Aww. What happened between you and the pinky?" she asked, teasingly.  
Naruto stayed silent as his lips curved downwards. "It's nothing, really. It's... I can't explain it."  
"And why not? Are you still the drop out that we knew?"  
Naruto smirked and so did Temari.  
"Look, I have two brothers, and I think I can help you out... So, what's bothering you?"  
Naruto smiled and began to speak. It was nice to have someone to talk to, at least.

O-O-O

A/N: It was only _slight_ NaruTema. I'm so sorry! I _did_ say I have to bring their relationship to higher levels... Anyway, also remember Shakiru... She has an important role in this story...


End file.
